The reasons for deploying voice over LTE (VoLTE) are simple and straightforward. The service delivers better voice quality, boosts efficiency and opens up a wider world of revenue opportunities. But the process of deploying VoLTE is more intricate. And it involves unique considerations that are still unfamiliar to many wireless network providers.

That’s why we’re launching a new blog series, based on my interviews with our VoLTE experts. Each blog will offer key lessons and tips to help your VoLTE deployment proceed smoothly and successfully. These insights come straight from our team’s experience with leading VoLTE deployments in North America.

Why you need an expert viewpoint

VoLTE is not like other data implementations. It brings together mobility and VoIP, delivering the best mobile voice, reliable service and global simplicity. It’s a service your subscribers can count on, for when communication matters. That means customers’ expectations are higher. And satisfying those expectations, with carrier-grade quality, presents special challenges and new factors to consider.

For example, VoLTE is an end-to-end service, crossing all three layers of the LTE network (access, packet core, communications core) and the subscriber’s smartphone. There are new and challenging points of failure. And the service design must account for end-to-end transport quality, coverage conditions and quality of service. Even when LTE network data KPIs are currently being met, they may not be satisfactory for a real-time service such as voice.

Our experts have gained a unique understanding of the best ways to address these special requirements. The team’s knowledge comes from years in the field, working on large-scale VoLTE networks that are committed to “doing VoLTE right.” The lessons they’ve learned can help you reduce costs and risk, while accelerating time to market for your new services.

What we’ll look at

Being the only vendor today working in all three layers of the major VoLTE deployments in North America, Alcatel-Lucent experts have a unique view into what’s essential for success. As a result, they can point out the most common issues — and where they occur. Explain what you’re most likely to overlook, if you don’t have VoLTE expertise. And offer best practices for handling these challenges. Here are some of the key questions our blogs will discuss:

How can I make sure that our VoLTE service is as good or better as circuit-switched service?

Why is an end-to-end, cross-domain approach so important?

What factors must be considered to deliver a satisfying quality of experience?

How do we correlate QoS and QoE for this new service?

Which parameters need to be adjusted for VoLTE?

What are the most effective ways to monitor and achieve our KPIs?

How do we maintain reliability and prevent dropped calls?

What can we do to identify the source of performance problems?

How can we optimize the Radio Access Network to work most effectively with VoLTE?

Can our network continue to support emergency calling (e.g., E911) and lawful intercept (e.g., CALEA) in the VoLTE environment?

Who I’ll talk to

The Alcatel-Lucent VoLTE team’s experience and real-world knowledge provide the value of this new blog series. These experts are at the forefront of today’s most important deployments. So they understand VoLTE requirements in each network domain. And they also have a crucial cross-domain viewpoint — which is essential for designing, launching and optimizing the performance of this end-to-end service. Each expert I’m interviewing has over a decade of experience with wireless products and services. And they are currently solution architects within Alcatel-Lucent Wireless Services or IP Platforms teams.

The next blog in this series examines why an end-to-end strategy is crucial for a successful VoLTE launch. You’ll get insights from Micky Choi, who provides IMS engineering expertise for new services, and from Luis Venerio, who provides VoLTE Readiness Services for some of the world’s largest wireless operators.

Click here to subscribe to our series. To join the discussion on Twitter, follow #VoLTE, or connect with @JeanSJones or @EdElkin1.

The reasons for deploying voice over LTE (VoLTE) are simple and straightforward. The service delivers better voice quality, boosts efficiency and opens up a wider world of revenue opportunities. But the process of deploying VoLTE is more intricate. And it involves unique considerations that are still unfamiliar to many wireless network providers.

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That’s why we’re launching a new blog series, based on my interviews with our VoLTE experts. Each blog will offer key lessons and tips to help your VoLTE deployment proceed smoothly and successfully. These insights come straight from our team’s experience with leading VoLTE deployments in North America.

\n

Why you need an expert viewpoint

\n

VoLTE is not like other data implementations. It brings together mobility and VoIP, delivering the best mobile voice, reliable service and global simplicity. It’s a service your subscribers can count on, for when communication matters. That means customers’ expectations are higher. And satisfying those expectations, with carrier-grade quality, presents special challenges and new factors to consider.

\n

For example, VoLTE is an end-to-end service, crossing all three layers of the LTE network (access, packet core, communications core) and the subscriber’s smartphone. There are new and challenging points of failure. And the service design must account for end-to-end transport quality, coverage conditions and quality of service. Even when LTE network data KPIs are currently being met, they may not be satisfactory for a real-time service such as voice.

\n

Our experts have gained a unique understanding of the best ways to address these special requirements. The team’s knowledge comes from years in the field, working on large-scale VoLTE networks that are committed to “doing VoLTE right.” The lessons they’ve learned can help you reduce costs and risk, while accelerating time to market for your new services.

\n

What we’ll look at

\n

Being the only vendor today working in all three layers of the major VoLTE deployments in North America, Alcatel-Lucent experts have a unique view into what’s essential for success. As a result, they can point out the most common issues — and where they occur. Explain what you’re most likely to overlook, if you don’t have VoLTE expertise. And offer best practices for handling these challenges. Here are some of the key questions our blogs will discuss:

\n

\n

\n

How can I make sure that our VoLTE service is as good or better as circuit-switched service?

\n

\n

\n

Why is an end-to-end, cross-domain approach so important?

\n

\n

\n

What factors must be considered to deliver a satisfying quality of experience?

\n

\n

\n

How do we correlate QoS and QoE for this new service?

\n

\n

\n

Which parameters need to be adjusted for VoLTE?

\n

\n

\n

What are the most effective ways to monitor and achieve our KPIs?

\n

\n

\n

How do we maintain reliability and prevent dropped calls?

\n

\n

\n

What can we do to identify the source of performance problems?

\n

\n

\n

How can we optimize the Radio Access Network to work most effectively with VoLTE?

\n

\n

\n

Can our network continue to support emergency calling (e.g., E911) and lawful intercept (e.g., CALEA) in the VoLTE environment?

\n

\n

\n

Who I’ll talk to

\n

The Alcatel-Lucent VoLTE team’s experience and real-world knowledge provide the value of this new blog series. These experts are at the forefront of today’s most important deployments. So they understand VoLTE requirements in each network domain. And they also have a crucial cross-domain viewpoint — which is essential for designing, launching and optimizing the performance of this end-to-end service. Each expert I’m interviewing has over a decade of experience with wireless products and services. And they are currently solution architects within Alcatel-Lucent Wireless Services or IP Platforms teams.

\n

The next blog in this series examines why an end-to-end strategy is crucial for a successful VoLTE launch. You’ll get insights from Micky Choi, who provides IMS engineering expertise for new services, and from Luis Venerio, who provides VoLTE Readiness Services for some of the world’s largest wireless operators.

\n

Click here to subscribe to our series. To join the discussion on Twitter, follow #VoLTE, or connect with @JeanSJones or @EdElkin1.